Controlling a home electronics system

ABSTRACT

An apparatus ( 200 ) arranged to control a home electronics system, the apparatus being managed independently of a user, the apparatus comprising a data processing unit (CPU ( 204 ), Program ROM ( 208 ) and RAM ( 210 )), a first communications port ( 202 ) operable to receive a command, a second communications port ( 216 ) operable to receive a signal indicating an operative component in the system, and a third communications port ( 218 ) operable to output a substitute command to a component in the system. On receiving a command, the data processing unit may produce at least one substitute command in dependence on the operative component, which substitute command is then communicated to a component in the system.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for the controlof a home electronics system comprising a plurality of components.

Home entertainment components such as TV, VCR, DVD and audio receiverare sold as individual products. Brands compete on the basis of featuresand other factors. Products incorporate standardised signal interfaces(RCA, Scart, etc.) to facilitate interconnection between brands.However, each product is essentially controlled as a standaloneequipment with its own user interface and, usually, dedicated remotecontroller. The user of a home electronics system ends up with a host ofremote controllers. To control a particular product, the user mustlocate the correct remote controller and remember which keys to press toinvoke the desired function; indeed some functions require more than oneproduct to be set-up, in turn requiring the use of more than one remotecontroller. Another issue is that, as the number of product featuresincreases, the tendency is for manufacturers to use display based userinterfaces so as to limit the number of keys on remote controllers; theresult is that individual products (and their associated remotecontrollers) are increasingly operated using generic commands such as‘menu’, ‘cursor_up’/_down/_left/_right, ‘OK’, etc. Thus, there may be aduplication of generic commands across the set of remote controllers theuser may possess; a duplication which has not been exploited.

To date, the universal remote control has become a popular means tocontrol a plurality of products; however, these have the disadvantagethat the user has to remember to change (product) mode in order tochange control to another product.

International patent a WO00/70578, as signed to the present applicant,discloses a system and method for controlling multiple home electronicsdevices. It describes the use of a single remote control (e.g. the TVremote) to control a device controller which in turn controls other homedevices in addition to the TV; in response to receiving commands fromthe remote control, the device controller generates and transmitscommands suitable for controlling any of the home devices. Adisadvantage of this system (and also of the universal remote control,discussed earlier) is the requirement to involve the user ininitialisation and (as required, for example when adding a device to thesystem) updating procedures to ensure that commands are correctlytranslated. This can be a significant burden for a user.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome these and otherdisadvantages through an improved method and apparatus for controlling ahome electronics system.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a method forcontrolling a home electronics system comprising a plurality ofcomponents, the method being managed independently of a user and invokedon receipt of a command, the method comprising the steps of:

-   -   sensing an operative component in the system;    -   adapting the command to produce at least one substitute command        in dependence on the operative component; and    -   for each substitute command, communicating the substitute        command to a component in the system, which component being        operable to respond to the substitute command.

The method of the present invention removes from the user the burden ofconfiguring the system (for example, initialisation and/or updating ofthe configuration as components are added to or removed from thesystem). The mechanism used to achieve this may include a receivedcommand recognition capability whereby commands addressed to the systemcan be correctly received, decoded and identified; and a system contextsensing capability whereby the status of the home electronics system canbe monitored to identify one or more presently operative components anddetect subsequent changes as and when they occur.

The system context may be changed using a variety of methods, includingbut not limited to manual control of a component by means of its localuser interface, or remote control by means of explicit commands.

Also in accordance with the present invention there is provided anapparatus arranged to control a home electronics system, the apparatusbeing managed independently of a user, the apparatus comprising:

-   -   a data processing unit, comprising a CPU, program ROM and RAM;    -   a first communications port operable to receive a command;    -   a second communications port operable to receive a signal        indicating an operative component in the system; and    -   a third communications port operable to output a substitute        command, the data processing unit being arranged to adapt the        command to produce at least one substitute command in dependence        on the operative component.

The apparatus of the invention may receive any type of command, forexample issued by the user or on his/her behalf. One example is akeypress on a local keypad of a component in the system. For instance,when the overall system is in ‘standby’, the user may depress the ‘ON’key on the local TV keypad; the apparatus of the invention may receiveand adapt this command and in response may issue one or more ‘on’commands specific to the other system components thereby bringing themout of standby mode in preparation for operation.

Another type of command that might be received by the apparatus is aremote control command. One example, is an infrared remote controlcommand associated with a component in the home electronics system. Inthis case, the apparatus might only perform a simple adaption wherebythe command is forwarded to the component using an appropriate medium,as available to the apparatus and discussed in more detail below. Afurther example might be where the user is viewing a VCR playback.He/she grasps the physically nearest remote control (say, a DVD remote)and presses the ‘stop’ command on the remote control. The apparatusreceives this command and, using a command recognition capability asdiscussed earlier, it may recognise and decode the low level dataencoding, for example by using a built-in decoder suitable to decodeknown remote control data protocols (for example, in the case ofinfrared including, but not limited to, pulse position and PhilipsRC5/6); it may then identify the command (‘DVD stop’ in this example),for example by reference to a built-in store containing datacorresponding to command encoding formats. The apparatus may then sensethe present operating status of the system (i.e. VCR Play). Based onthese data, the apparatus could adapt the ‘DVD stop’ command into asubstitute command suitable for interpretation by the relevant VCR as a‘stop’ command. In this example the received command may utilise adifferent data encoding method relative to the substitute command. Thesubstitute command may then be sent to a system component, in this casethe relevant VCR, via, any suitable means including, but not limited to,wired (for example Project50, D2B, IEEE1394/HAVi, USB, RS232, orsimilar), infrared (for example pulse position, RC5/6) or radio (forexample Bluetooth, ZigBee, HomeRF, WiFi, IEEE802.11, HiperLAN); forexample, the adapted command might be sent as a suitably encodedinfrared ‘stop’ command to the VCR, thereby emulating the infraredremote controller of the VCR.

A yet further type of command is one received from an external wired bus(including, but not limited to, USB, Scart, IEEE1394/HAVi), a wirednetwork (including, but not limited to, Ethernet, RS232, PSTN, ISDN,ADSL) or a wireless network (infrared including, but not limited to,pulse position, RC5/6 and radio including, but not limited to,Bluetooth. ZigBee, HomeRF, WiFi, IEEE802.11, HiperLAN).

Commands and other data may be exchanged with an Internet server via amodem. One example is where the apparatus arranges to automaticallydownload data from an Internet server in response to detecting a newcomponent in the system. To ensure operation with new command codesdefined in future products, the apparatus might be remotely programmed,for example via an Internet server, on detecting a new component in thesystem, without involving the user. Such updating might be achieved bythe apparatus sending to the Internet server a representation of areceived command associated with the new system component, which commandthe apparatus cannot decode. The Internet server could then respond withdata comprising a set of commands corresponding to the component, whichset could then be downloaded and stored by the apparatus for use indecoding future received commands.

It can readily be noted that the apparatus may adapt the receivedcommands at a variety of levels including simple transfer (that is,without code conversion) of a command from one medium to another (forexample from IR to wired); alternatively, or in addition, the commandmay be converted from one data protocol to another data protocol (forexample from RC5 to Project50). Moreover, the received commands may alsobe generic in that they are not able, per se, to address (command) aspecific component until adapted by the apparatus, examples include‘play’ ‘stop’, ‘cursor<direction>’, ‘OK’, etc.; such commands could, forexample, emanate from a special proprietary remote control or other userdevice.

A home electronics system may comprise a plurality of components and anapparatus unit embodying the invention. An existing system might beupgraded by the addition of an apparatus unit connected to thecomponents of the system by any suitable means, for example using aScart interface. In general, an apparatus unit may utilise one or moreinterfaces to receive commands, to sense an operative component in thesystem and to send commands. The apparatus unit might be integratedwithin a component of the system. Preferably, such a component would bea TV receiver.

In any of the above scenarios the apparatus unit may sense an operativecomponent by analysing the characteristics of its A/V signal output. Forexample, it is well known in the art that video playback from VCRsexhibits specific attributes such as the end-of-field head-switchingtransient and also synchronisation jitter. The apparatus unit coulddetect such attributes and thereby deduce that a VCR component waspresently operative as a source in the system. Other sources may alsoexhibit particular attributes, for example an analogue video sourcederived from a tuner as opposed to a DVD player might perhaps bedistinguished by the absence of VBI teletext in the latter case.However, the above distinctions are all implicit indicators and thus canbe prone to interpretation error possibly resulting in a non-robustfunctioning of the system. It is of course preferred that an explicitscheme is used to indicate the operative component within the system.One technique might be to use a dedicated identification methodologycomprising means to indicate to the apparatus an operative component.Such schemes however are not very attractive commercially, in that theymay tie a user to purchasing components of a specific brand and/orpossibly make obsolete the user's existing equipment. It is thereforepreferable to utilise an existing digital data scheme identifying anoperative component, the apparatus is then able to sense the operativecomponent by decoding the digital data. Suitable examples include, butare not limited to, Project50 and IEEE1394/HAVi. In a preferredembodiment, the system components and apparatus unit are interconnectedusing Project50. In this case, the apparatus unit may be able toexplicitly sense a component operative in the system, for example bymonitoring and interpreting the Project50 message traffic betweencomponents of the system. In addition, Project50 may also be used todeliver and send commands to/from the apparatus unit, as discussedearlier.

Further features and advantages will now be described, by way of exampleonly, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of a method according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of the apparatusunit;

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a first embodiment of a homeelectronics system;

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a second embodiment of a homeelectronics system; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of a third embodiment of a homeelectronics system comprising an apparatus, unit integrated within acomponent.

Within the following description of embodiments of the presentinvention, the term ‘home electronics system’ refers to any systemcomprising a collection of A/V components, including, but not limitedto, TV, VCR, DVD player, recordable DVD, AV receiver and othercomponents including, but not limited to, security system components(sensors, actuators, etc.), personal computers, PC peripherals, homeappliances, information appliances and the like. The term ‘Project50’refers to versions, as defined from time to time, of the IEC AV-Linkspecification for signalling using Pin10 of a Scart connection. At thetime of filing of the present application, the DMI specification isemerging; it is to be noted that all references herein to the term‘Project50’ include the definition of ‘Project50’ as incorporated in theDMI specification or any other subsequent formats, in addition to theaforementioned AV-Link specification. The term ‘operative component’means a component within the home electronics system which is, forexample playing media or is the most recently controlled component.

FIG. 1 shows a flow diagram of a method according to the invention. Themethod is generally indicated at 100. Test 102 checks for a receivedcommand; when a command is received, the method senses 104 an operativecomponent and, in dependence of the sensed component, adapts 106 thecommand into a substitute command which is then communicated 108 to acomponent of the system. The method then loops back to test 102.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of an embodiment of theapparatus unit. The apparatus unit is shown generally at 200. A commandsignal is received at port 202. The command signal may include, but isnot limited to, a data message conveyed to the apparatus unit by wiredor wireless means. The invention is compatible with any command signalcoding format including proprietary as well as the various industrystandard formats (including, but not limited to, pulse position,ZigBee-PURL, Philips RC5/6 bi-phase coding and Project50 messages). Theapparatus unit comprises a data processing unit (comprising CPU 204,optional user interface 206, program ROM 208, RAM 210 all interconnectedby bus 212 in standard fashion, as is known to those skilled in theart). Preferably, the data processing unit (under software programcontrol) decodes the received command signal and identifies the receivedcommand message, for example by comparison with data held in store 214;the identified message may be temporarily stored in RAM 210. A systemstatus information signal is applied at port 216. This may be aninformation signal which implies the identity of an operative componentin the system; alternatively, the information signal may, explicitlyidentify an operative component. Either way, the data processing unitprocesses the signal (under software program control) to determine theidentity of an operative component; this identity may be temporarilystored in RAM 210. With knowledge of the identity of an operativecomponent and of the received command message, the data processing unitmay arrange for a substitute command to be produced and sent from theapparatus to a component in the system via send command data port 218.The data processing unit may generate further commands intended foradditional components in the system. This facilitates a macro typefeature whereby, a set of components might be automatically configuredin response to the received command. An example is where a ‘stop’command is received when a DVD player is presently ‘playing’; inresponse the apparatus might issue two commands: one to instruct the DVDplayer (‘DVD_stop’) and a second to display a menu (‘display_DVD_menu’),thereby reducing the number of operations the user has to perform.Macros may be pre-defined and built-in to the apparatus to operatevarious types and combinations of components in a home electronicssystem.

Each port of the apparatus may utilise additional circuitry in order tointerface to wired and/or wireless media as discussed earlier; suchcircuitry is well known to the skilled person and, by way of, example,an embodiment is described below with respect to FIG. 5.

Concerning the system status information signal input at port 216. Thissignal might be an analogue video signal sourced by an operativecomponent in the system. Characteristics of the signal might be checkedby the data processing unit, individually or in combination, to deducethe identity of the operative component. For example, a VCR video outputmay be characterised by synchronisation jitter and/or the head-switchingtransient near the end of a field interval; either or both thesecharacteristics might be analysed to deduce that the present playout isfrom a VCR. In the case of a DVD analogue video output, this signalmight be considered to very closely resemble an analogue broadcastsignal (received via terrestrial, cable or satellite); a distinguishingfeature of DVD playout might be characterised by the absence of VBIsignals such as teletext, VPS and/or broadcaster insertion test signals(for example ‘staircase’, or ‘pulse and bar’). These characteristics maybe tested to deduce the playout is from a DVD player.

Alternatively the system status information signal applied at port 216may comprise digital data. To minimise processing overhead in theapparatus, a preferred method is one in which the system statusinformation signal includes an easily decodable identifier indicating anoperative component. It will be apparent to the skilled person that manysuitable schemes may be devised; however, new or proprietary schemes maynot be quickly or commercially accepted in the market and moreover willbe incompatible with the existing population of (so called ‘legacy’)components in the field. A preferred method is where the system statusinformation signal is Project50. The data processing unit may monitorand analyse Project50 traffic available at port 216 to explicitlydetermine an operative component in the system. This has the advantagethat an existing, rather than new, signalling scheme may be utilised andthat legacy Project50-enabled components already in the field may alsobe included. For non-Project50-enabled products, the implicit deductionmethods described earlier may be used, thereby ensuring that any homeelectronics system is compatible with the method of the invention.

As discussed, the data processing unit may generate commands to send tocomponents in the system in response to the receipt of a command. It mayemploy a variety of strategies in order to identify and associate acommand encoding suitable for a specific component in the system. Onestrategy is for the data processing unit to send a command repeatedly toa component, each repeat using a different command encoding in turnuntil it senses the component successfully responding to the command;whereupon it may store the relevant encoding type associated with thecomponent in the store 214. Another strategy is for the data processingunit to monitor remote control commands sent by the user to a component;the data processing unit may receive and identify the command andassociate it with a component by sensing the response of a component tothe command. These strategies may be especially effective when componentresponse is sensed by monitoring Project50 messages. The abovestrategies are useful where the commands are sent from the apparatus viainfrared or radio. However, sending commands from the apparatus usinginfrared or radio has practical limitations of line-of-sight and/orrange; in addition such commands must be targeted at a specificcomponent and this may cause problems for example where there areidentical components in the system and infrared/radio command encodingschemes do not accommodate such duplicate components. A preferredembodiment is where commands are sent via a system level protocol ratherthan component level protocol, such that a particular component isuniquely identified within the system, regardless of the number, type orbrand of components in the system. As discussed earlier, a custom remotecontrol can be used to apply system level commands to the apparatus;similarly, the apparatus can also send commands (via a suitable medium)to specific components of the system using system level commands. Apreferred embodiment is to send commands to components of the systemusing Project50. An alternative preferred embodiments is to sendcommands to components using IEEE1394/HAVi.

In order to achieve the goal of ensuring zero involvement by the user ininitialising and/or updating the apparatus, a preferred embodiment mayarrange to decode and identify infrared remote control commands of allmajor CE brands and specific component types (TV, VCR, etc.) withinthose brands. In addition, the apparatus may also be arranged to decodeand identify commands received via other media such as wired or radio;in particular via Project50 or IEEE1394/HAVi. In another configuration,the apparatus may alternatively or additionally include decoding andidentification of generic remote control commands associated with acustom, remote controller supplied with the apparatus. Such a customremote control might include generic function keys such as ‘menu’,‘cursor’ (up/down/left/right), ‘OK’, etc. It is noted that, unlike priorart solutions, the user is not required at any time (i.e. at initialinstallation or at any subsequent occasion, for example when adding anew component to the system) to identify to the apparatus anyconfiguration information whatsoever (for example the identities of thecomponents in the system and/or the commands they use). A furtheradvantage over the prior art is that a user may on any occasion operatethe system using any remote control available to hand which contains therequired function key(s).

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of a homeelectronics system comprising a separate apparatus unit. The homeelectronics system is shown generally at 300. The system comprises afirst component 302, a second component 306 and an apparatus unit 304all connected via an interconnection means 308. Components in the systemcan be of any type including, but not limited to, TV, VCR, DVD player,DVD recorder, laserdisc player, audio receiver. A home electronicssystem may comprise any number or combination of components. Inoperation, a system comprises at least one component acting as a sinkcomponent (that is a component receiving content from another component)and at least one component acting as a source component (that is acomponent sending content to another component). A typical systemusually includes an AV presentation (sink) component or components, forexample a TV, audio amplifier, etc.

The interconnection means 308 may comprise any suitable bus ornetworking means (wired or wireless) or any combination thereof. Wiredschemes include, but not limited to, RS232, USB, Ethernet, Project50,IEEE1394/HAVi. Wireless schemes include, but not limited to, Bluetooth,IEEE802.11, ZigBee, HomeRF, WiFi, other low power radio (e.g. 868 MHz,915 MHz), IrDA, infrared remote control. With reference to the exampleof FIG. 2 concerning interfacing the apparatus, any of the aboveinterconnection means may be used in any combination to receivecommands, to sense a presently operative component or to send a commandto a component; as is readily identifiable by the skilled person. FIG. 3shows the apparatus being logically distinct from the components of thesystem. In practice, the apparatus may reside externally to thecomponents or may be integrated within a component.

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of a homeelectronics system comprising wireless connections between thecomponents and the apparatus. The system is shown generally at 400. Thesystem comprises a first component 402 together with radio antenna 404,a second component 406 and radio antenna 408 and an apparatus 410 andradio antenna 412. The components may be of any type. As indicated, theinterconnection may be any suitable radio means; alternatively, otherwireless means such as infrared may be used. The figure also shows theapparatus connected to an Internet Server 414 by means of a 2-way datalink 416, the link being wired or wireless, using means known in theart.

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of a homeelectronics system comprising an apparatus unit integrated within acomponent. The home electronics system is shown generally at 500. Thesystem comprises a first component 502 (as denoted by the dashedoutline) and a second component 504 connected to the first component byinterconnection means 506. The first component 502 comprises anapparatus unit 508, an infrared receiver 510, drivers 512 and sundryother functions 514, said functions being unrelated to the presentinvention. Infrared commands 516 are sent to the component 502. Theseare received and demodulated by the infrared receiver 510 and forwarded518 to the received command signal port (see FIG. 2, 202) of theapparatus unit 508. Although interconnection means 506 can comprise anysuitable wired or wireless method as discussed earlier, a preferredembodiment for the present example utilises Project50 carried overScart. The drivers 512 suitably interface the Project50 bus to thesystem status signal port (see FIG. 2, 216) and the send command dataport (see FIG. 2, 218) of the apparatus unit. The apparatus unit decodesand identifies the received (IR) command, senses the presently operativecomponent (via Project50) and in response may issue one or moresubstitute commands (via Project50) using the method discussed earlier.Component 502 may be a TV receiver or similar central component; theadvantage being that the user normally interacts with such a componentintuitively and by using the remote control of the component. For suchan adapted TV or similar component, commercial advantages include thefact that the apparatus can be implemented by a relatively simplesoftware upgrade since the infrared receiver 510, drivers 512 and theScart connector (for clarity, not shown in FIG. 5) already exist intypical TV implementations.

Alternatively the present example utilises Consumer Electronics Control(CEC) messages carried over the High Definition Multimedia Interface(HDMI). The drivers 512 suitably interface the CEC bus to the systemstatus signal port (see FIG. 2, 216) and the send command data port (seeFIG. 2, 218) of the apparatus unit. The apparatus unit decodes andidentifies the received (IR) command, senses the presently operativecomponent (via CEC) and in response may issue one or more substitutecommands (via CEC) using the method discussed earlier. Component 502 maybe a TV receiver, display device or similar central component.

The foregoing implementations are presented by way of example only andrepresent a selection of a range of implementations that can readily beidentified by a person skilled in the art to exploit the advantages ofthe present invention.

In the description above and with reference to FIG. 2, an apparatus 200arranged to control a home electronics system, the apparatus beingmanaged independently of a user, the apparatus comprising a dataprocessing unit (CPU 204, Program ROM 208 and RAM 210), a firstcommunications port 202 operable to receive a command, a secondcommunications port 216 operable to receive a signal indicating anoperative component in the system, and a third communications port 218operable to output a substitute command to a component in the system. Onreceiving a command, the data processing unit may produce at least onesubstitute command in dependence on the operative component, whichsubstitute command is then communicated to a component in the system.

1. A method for controlling a home electronics system comprising a plurality of components, the method being managed independently of a user and invoked on receipt of a command, the method comprising the steps of: sensing an operative component in the system; adapting the command to produce at least one substitute command in dependence on the operative component; and for each substitute command, communicating the substitute command to a component in the system, which component being operable to respond to the substitute command.
 2. An apparatus arranged to control a home electronics system according to the method of claim 1, the apparatus being managed independently of a user, the apparatus comprising: a data processing unit, comprising a CPU, program ROM and RAM; a first communications port operable to receive a command; a second communications port operable to receive a signal indicating an operative component in the system; and a third communications port operable to output a substitute command, the data processing unit being arranged to adapt the command to produce at least one substitute command in dependence on the operative component.
 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the data processing unit comprises a store, which store contains data corresponding to command encoding formats.
 4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the first port is operable to receive remote control commands via infrared.
 5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the first port is operable to receive commands via radio.
 6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the first port is operable to receive Project50 commands via Scart.
 7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the first port is operable to receive CEC commands via HDMI.
 8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the first port is operable to receive commands via IEEE1394/HAVi.
 9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the first port is operable to exchange data and commands with an Internet server via a modem.
 10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the second port signal comprises an AV signal originating from an operative component, the data processing unit being arranged to sense the operative component by analysing the characteristics of the A/V signal.
 11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the second port signal comprises digital data identifying an operative component, the data processing unit being arranged to sense the operative component by decoding the digital data.
 12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein the digital data comprises Project50 messages.
 13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein the digital data comprises CEC messages.
 14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein the digital data comprises IEEE1394/HAVi messages.
 15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the third port is operable to output the substitute command encoded in accordance with an infrared remote control format.
 16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the third port is operable to output the substitute command encoded in accordance with the Project50 protocol.
 17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the third port is operable to output the substitute command encoded in accordance with the CEC protocol.
 18. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the third port is operable to output the substitute command encoded in accordance with the IEEE1394/HAVi protocol.
 19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the third port is operable to output the substitute command encoded in accordance with a radio protocol.
 20. A home electronics system comprising a plurality of components and an apparatus according to any claim 2-19.
 21. A home electronics system as claimed in claim 20 wherein a component comprises the apparatus.
 22. A home electronics system as claimed in claim 21 wherein the component is a TV receiver.
 23. A home electronics system as claimed in any claim 20-22 wherein the apparatus arranges to automatically download data from an Internet server in response to detecting a new component in the system. 